Dear Colleagues:
This is a reminder that nominations for the 2026 Sanjay and Panna Mehrotra Excellence Award are due July 10, 2026!
This award recognizes INFORMS Health Applications Society Members for excellence in research. Mid-career academic and industry professionals are eligible. Full details about eligibility and nominations are below.
Please disseminate this broadly to anyone who may be interested.
The 2026 Sanjay and Panna Mehrotra Research Excellence Award
Sanjay and Panna Mehrotra Research Excellence Award
The Health Applications Society of INFORMS sponsors the annual Sanjay and Panna Mehrotra Research Excellence Award, which recognizes a mid-career researcher for significant contributions to health applications of Operations Research and the Management Sciences (OR/MS). Named for Professor Sanjay Mehrotra and his wife in recognition of Professor Mehrotra's contributions and dedication to translating OR/MS into practice to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare systems, the award will be presented at the Health Applications Society Business Meeting at the INFORMS annual meeting. Dr. Mehrotra is a professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences at Northwestern University and has served on the editorial boards of numerous OR/MS journals. The award includes an honorarium of $1,000. The winner will also receive a certificate and a plaque; all other finalists will receive certificates.
The 2026 Sanjay and Panna Mehrotra Research Excellence Award Committee:
- Mariel Lavieri (Chair), University of Michigan
- Mehmet U. S. Ayvaci, University of Texas at Dallas
- Nikos Trichakis, MIT
Criteria
- A demonstrable effort in translating OR/MS into practice
- Contributions to health applications of OR/MS, evidenced by measurable health-related outcomes
- Contributions to the advancement of OR/MS
Eligibility
Assistant/Associate Professor (tenure-track/tenured, or non-tenure-track) position in an academic institution (at the time of award presentation at the INFORMS annual meeting); or
Healthcare professional with less than fifteen years of experience since the terminating degree (at the time of the award presentation at this year's INFORMS Annual Meeting).
In addition, the applicant must be a member of the Health Applications Society, and not be a previous winner of the Sanjay and Panna Mehrotra Research Excellence Award. Finalists from previous years may apply one more time to the competition with the caveat that:
- They must still meet all other eligibility requirements.
- They can only be finalists once.
- They provide a paragraph indicating what has changed since their last application.
Application Process
A complete application must consist of the following documents submitted as PDF files:
1. A curriculum vitae, which includes the applicant's complete educational and professional history with degree dates, and the applicant's complete research portfolio on health applications
2. A personal statement no more than six pages in total consisting of the following three parts:
- Part A: A 3-4 page statement (excluding the references cited in the document) that summarizes the applicant's use of OR/MS to address significant problems that arise in health systems, the developed solutions, the effort conducted for translating research results to practice, and the impact on practice (as demonstrated by measurable health-related outcomes)
- Part B: A one-page statement describing the applicant's future research goals in health applications
- Part C: Written commitment, if selected as a finalist, to make a high-quality, 30-minute presentation for the Sanjay and Panna Mehrotra Research Excellence Award session organized by the Health Application Society at the INFORMS annual meeting.
3. Two letters from practitioners certifying the significance of the problems studied by the applicant and the practical impact of the applicant's research
4. PDF of up to four representative manuscripts (published or under review) authored by the applicant
All application materials, including letters from practitioners, should be submitted via email to the award committee chair, Professor Mariel Lavieri (lavieri@umich.edu), by July 10, 2026. Letters from practitioners may be submitted separately by email to Professor Lavieri or combined as part of the application package. Please include S&P Mehrotra Award in the subject line of all emails sent.
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Mariel S. Lavieri, Professor
Associate Chair of Undergraduate Studies
Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering
1205 Beal Avenue, Room 2895
The University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2117 USA
email:
lavieri@umich.eduhttps://lavieri.engin.umich.edu/------------------------------